In the Arena: Capt. Chris Dollar

November 20, 2024

TRCP’s “In the Arena” series highlights the individual voices of hunters and anglers who, as Theodore Roosevelt so famously said, strive valiantly in the worthy cause of conservation.

Chris Dollar

Hometown: Rappahannock River, VA
Occupation: Principal, CD Outdoors’ Communications; writer/editor/educator, conservationist, fishing guide, and owner/operator of TackleCove.com – a light tackle, fly fishing, and kayak outfitter.
Conservation credentials: Chesapeake Region Conservation Consultant and member of Government Relations Committee for Coastal Conservation Association; Conservation Director for Virginia Saltwater Sportfishing Association.

An all-purpose outdoors professional since 1994, think of Capt. “C” Dollar as the Swiss Army knife of the Chesapeake Bay’s sporting and conservation realm. He has three decades’ experience as an outdoors professional who has held a fishing guide license and a U.S. Coast Guard Master’s License since the 1990s. He is also an avid waterfowl hunter and amateur birder. He works with several conservation organizations and coalitions – including the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Coastal Conservation Association, and TRCP. Originally formed in 1999, his CD Outdoors brand has morphed into a conservation communications consultancy focused on Bay fishery and habitat issues. (Dollar notes that CD Outdoors’ logo is of an osprey feeding menhaden to its chicks, taken from a photograph he took in the early 2000s, and in the past two years there are growing concerns that there may not be enough menhaden to feed some osprey chicks on some lower Bay tributaries due to industrial menhaden fishing.)

His columns cover important issues such as the impacts of the industrial-scale menhaden reduction fishery on recreational angling and the Bay’s habitat, wildlife, and water quality. Over the years, his columns have regularly appeared in the Baltimore Sun, Chesapeake Bay Magazine, PropTalk, and the Capital Gazette, the latter of which continues to run his weekly conservation column. He also pens a bi-weekly blog on TackleCove.com.

Here is his story.

Growing up on Chesapeake Bay, fishing and crabbing was just something we did as kids. It wasn’t until right after college that I took fishing more seriously, especially with regards to related conservation efforts, which are a necessary part of any outdoorsperson’s tool kit. My grandfather was a hunter, but he passed before I got a chance to know him, so I did not grow up in a hunting household. In 1996, my college lacrosse teammate and his father took me under their wing and introduced me to waterfowl hunting when I was in my mid-20s. I’ve been hooked ever since.

Like most folks who spend a lot of time out-of-doors, I have memorable adventures. One that stands out was when we were hunting the grass flats and marshes of Pocomoke Sound for wigeon, pintails, and gadwall. We’d had a very good hunt, but by midday the wind really picked up and it switched around and came at us from the northeast. The boat ramp was about 9 miles away and the cut-through in the marsh to the ramp was blown out – there was no water in it. So, we had to go into the teeth of the blow via Tangier Sound.

For those who are unfamiliar with the Bay, Tangier Sound is pretty big water with stretches of deep water and shoals. In a 20-foot open boat loaded with decoys, two grown men, and a Chesapeake Bay retriever, with wind chill temps close to the single digits, well, that was a bit of a white-knuckler.

Though I love hunting and angling on the Bay, I hope to someday go fishing for sea-run fish in Patagonia. It seems so wild and expansive. On the hunting side, it would be great to flush upland birds and call in waterfowl somewhere wild and remote, like the upper Midwest or remote Canada. What I’d really like to do, however, is time travel back to when canvasbacks blackened the Chesapeake skies and rafted together in thousands on the Susquehanna Flats.

Dramatic changes in the Bay have taken place over the past century. Once abundant fish and wildlife populations and vibrant habitats are diminished. Helping to protect and restore the Chesapeake is a huge reason why I am so involved in conservation, both for fisheries and birds. That said, we also need to understand that eating wild game and fish is important. That’s especially true for me, even if I’m not able to do it as much as I used to. Getting older ain’t for sissies.

“We need to value all forage fish – shads, river herrings, and menhaden – for what they mean to the entire ecosystem, and not just their dockside value.”

The top conservation priorities for the Chesapeake Bay include rebuilding habitat, conserving and protecting gamefish and forage fish (such as Atlantic menhaden and herring), and enhancing access to fisheries, especially for newcomers. Rebuilding the striper fishery, and maintaining the quality fisheries for red drum and cobia and other gamefish we have in the Bay, will not and cannot be done just through regulation of recreational or commercial fishing.

Rebuilding critical habitats – oyster reefs and seagrass beds – and improving water quality are also part of the solution, as are sensible and reasonable regulations for the large-scale industrialized reduction fishery for menhaden. Overall, we need to value all forage fish – shads, river herrings, and menhaden (bunker) – for what they mean to the entire ecosystem, and not just their dockside value. These are public resources, not commodities for a select few.

It is our moral obligation to not just protect and conserve what is left, but to enhance the natural capital remaining that we’ve been gifted. We are stewards of all waters, salt and fresh, and our marshes, woods, and mountains. Simple as that. None of it is ours. It belongs to the “now” as well as the future.

I have no understanding – or patience, frankly – of those who choose to recklessly use natural resources for short-term gains. It is anathema to me. It matters not if you’re a big-game hunter, a day hiker, or a casual angler or birder. America’s, and the world’s, wild places are inextricably linked to what it means to be human, and what it means to be alive. They belong to everyone.

All images credit Chris Dollar

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by: Ryan Lockwood

posted in: In the Arena

October 23, 2024

In The Arena: Capt. Paul Dixon

TRCP’s “In the Arena” series highlights the individual voices of hunters and anglers who, as Theodore Roosevelt so famously said, strive valiantly in the worthy cause of conservation.

Paul Dixon

Hometown: East Hampton, N.Y.
Occupation: Saltwater fly fishing guide who owns Dixon’s To The Point Charters, offering fly fishing for stripers and bluefish off Montauk, N.Y., and for bonefish, permit, and tarpon in the Florida Keys.
Conservation credentials: Dixon is a past board member and current Advisory Council member of the conservation nonprofit Bonefish & Tarpon Trust (BTT) – a TRCP partner – and is responsible for helping to raise millions of dollars for marine conservation efforts. He has long been a vocal champion for striped bass conservation.

Captain Paul Dixon is nothing less than a star in the guiding space in Montauk, off the east end of Long Island, and in the Florida Keys. He essentially wrote the book on sight fishing for striped bass in the Northeastern U.S. and is the main character in author Peter Kaminsky’s celebrated 2002 book The Moon Pulled Up an Acre of Bass. Dixon has been featured on ESPN’s fishing shows Guide House: Montauk, The Walker’s Cay Chronicles and Spanish Fly; in the Millhouse Podcast; and in articles in The New York Times, Outdoor Life, The Miami Herald, New York (Magazine), Salt Water Sportsman, and Field and Stream. Dixon’s client list has included such celebrity anglers as Roger Waters (the bassist for Pink Floyd) and renowned Florida fisherman Flip Pallot. He’s Orvis-endorsed and named among the top 50 charter captains by Salt Water Sportsman. Perhaps most importantly, he’s used his considerable influence in angling circles to forward fish conservation efforts. In 2021 he was given the Izaak Walton Award from the American Museum of Fly Fishing, and in 2022, BTT bestowed him the Lefty Kreh Award for Lifetime Achievement in Conservation.

Here is his story.

Dixon poling as an angler releases a striper. Credit: The Anglers Lens

My mother put me on a dock with a dropline on Balboa Island in California when I was three years old. Almost every weekend I spent on a head boat in Southern California or in a duck blind.

My whole family was steeped in hunting and fishing. As a lieutenant in the Air Force, my father was stationed in Alaska. His job was to open up fishing camps for the officers stationed on the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line [of Cold War radar stations] in 1952. He opened up the first camps in the Brooks Range on the Nac Nac River. My grandfather was a member of the Catalina Island Tuna Club in the 1930s and had his own duck club in Palmdale, Calif. He fished with author Zane Grey and singer Bing Crosby. So I grew up with great stories of outdoor adventures and dreamed of creating my own.

When I graduated from high school I was offered a job at the Wild Rose Ranch on Henry’s Lake in Idaho. Upon arrival the old timers told me, “We don’t spin fish here, kid. We fly fish,” and so the passion began. I had no nearby rivers or lakes so I began fly fishing in saltwater. I moved east in the mid-80s with the dream of opening my own fly fishing business and began Dixon’s Sporting Life, a fly fishing store in East Hampton, N.Y. I bought a flats skiff and began chasing striped bass.

“My biggest concern currently is that striped bass, again, are being depleted from all the commercial and recreational overfishing of the last 20 years.”

I have so many great memories of outdoor adventures with my father and family, but the most recent memories with my own sons come to mind. Notably, my son Andrew’s first tarpon, after 30 minutes and 10 jumps, came off, and Andrew says, “Damn they’re strong. I’m sort of glad he came off.” Recently, my oldest son, Austen, came striper fishing with me, and he caught 10 fish by 8:30 a.m., all of them over 30 pounds — a truly biblical morning.

Dixon’s son, Austen, with a Long Island striped bass. Credit: Paul Dixon

I have fished in many wonderful places all over the world, but I have not yet fished in Alaska. After hearing throughout my young life of fishing in Alaska from my father, I have harbored the dream of going there myself, with my own sons, and now have planned a trip for August 2025.

Dixon releasing a tarpon in the Florida Keys. Credit: Paul Dixon

I got involved with conservation when I moved east and realized that my dream fish, the striped bass, had been fished out. By the time that I opened my store in the early ’90s, the striped bass came roaring back after a 10-year fishing moratorium, one of the greatest conservation success stories in America. In a short period of time, however, the regulations started changing and, slowly but surely, you could see the effects on the fishery. I started going to fishery hearings to voice my concern about the fate of stripers and have been fighting the battle ever since. My ongoing conservation efforts are a way of preserving the fishery that has brought so much pleasure and excitement to my life for so many decades.

Dixon holding stripers for clients. Credit: Paul Dixon

For a long time, the biggest conservation challenge in our area was the restoration of the menhaden, which were being decimated by the factory ships. To deal the problem, the ships were outlawed from fishing in New York’s state waters. The recovery of menhaden was quickly evident from the abundance of whales, sharks, bass, and dolphin that were now feeding on menhaden up and down the coast. My biggest concern currently is that striped bass, again, are being depleted from all the commercial and recreational overfishing of the last 20 years.

Dixon with a bonefish on the flats in the Keys. Credit: Paul Dixon

It’s imperative for those of us who really love to hunt and fish to become involved in the preservation of the natural world. When I was 15 years old, I went with my father on a long-range fishing trip in search of albacore, 100 miles offshore. Leaving the harbor, my father said, “I remember when I used to catch albacore right off that jetty.”

I never want to say to my kids, “I remember when,” with fishing and hunting.

by: Noah Davis

posted in: In the Arena

October 15, 2024

In the Arena: Ryan Sparks

TRCP’s “In the Arena” series highlights the individual voices of hunters and anglers who, as Theodore Roosevelt so famously said, strive valiantly in the worthy cause of conservation.

Ryan Sparks

Hometown: Eight Mile Grove, Nebraska

Occupation: Editor of Quail Forever Journal

Conservation credentials: A long-time freelancer who focused on conservation issues impacting hunters and anglers across America, Sparks is now the editor of Quail Forever Journal.

Ryan Sparks learned to catch bluegills and chase whitetail bucks in southeastern Nebraska, but his work as a full-time freelance writer and photographer for nearly a decade took him to far-flung locations such as Ecuador in pursuit of outdoor stories. As a hunter and angler who finds ways to get outdoors in every season, Sparks is the perfect fit to head up a publication such as the Quail Forever Journal so he can inform and inspire other hunters and conservationists through words and photography.

Here is his story.

I grew up on my family’s farm in southeast Nebraska near the confluence of the Platte and Missouri Rivers. My dad and both grandfathers were passionate quail and pheasant hunters, so my introduction to hunting came naturally.

My first hunting memories are of walking fencerows for quail when I was just old enough to stumble in front of my dad’s pointers and flush coveys of bobwhites. My grandfather on my mom’s side, “Papa,” was also an obsessive duck hunter and fisherman so I grew up going on fishing trips with him for catfish, crappie, and bluegill.

Those initial outdoor experiences formed my love for nature as well as hunting and fishing. I later taught myself about bowhunting, flyfishing, waterfowl, turkeys, trapping, and several other outdoor pursuits.

Tippet and Sparks after a successful wild bobwhite quail hunt.

In college, I took classes that sounded interesting and came out with a double major in history and English. After graduating, I thought I wanted to be a history professor, and applied to study environmental history at Montana State University. I was fortunate to receive a full scholarship and a graduate teaching position at one of the strongest environmental history programs in the country.
Living in Montana opened my eyes to public land, big rivers, and wild country. It also made me realize I didn’t want to pursue a career in academia.

My academic advisor, Michael Reidy, gave me one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received. He told me that no matter what I did after graduate school, I should keep writing. And I did.

For the next decade I built a career as a full-time freelance writer and photographer, focusing on hunting, fishing, wild food, and conservation.

Through my work I’ve had the opportunity to go on some incredible adventures. I’ve traveled the world with a notepad, camera, and either a shotgun or a fly rod (and sometimes both) from Alaska to the Amazon.

“Without a cultural value of nature, there won’t be a voice to speak for it. Hunting and fishing are the greatest ways I know for someone to learn about themselves and their place in nature.”

Hunting, fishing, eating wild game, and conservation are all integral parts of my life. They aren’t hobbies or a lifestyle – they are who I am.

I hope to contribute as much if not more than I take in all aspects of my life, and I certainly hope to achieve that when it comes to hunting and fishing. I find doing habitat work on our family farm as fulfilling as a successful hunt. On a larger level, if I can help advance the conservation mission of Quail Forever by informing and inspiring other hunters and conservationists, I find that extremely rewarding as well.

Working as the editor of Quail Forever Journal is a dream job for me. It combines my greatest passions in life with what I am good at and is fulfilling work.

Simply put, conservation is taking care of the things we love. I love to hear a turkey gobble in the spring. I love to see a covey of quail explode from a thicket. I love to watch whitetails rut in November. I love to catch a stringer of crappie and fry them up for my family.

I know my parents and grandparents loved these things before me and I’m doing my best to make sure my future children will have a chance to love them as well. If we want these things to last, we need to be involved in conservation.

Without a cultural value of nature, there won’t be a voice to speak for it. Hunting and fishing are the greatest ways I know for someone to learn about themselves and their place in nature. They are a key component to our humanity. It is why we feel so alive when we hunt and fish. That exuberant feeling of life is what inspires me as a conservationist.

Working in conservation isn’t just about preserving landscapes; it’s about nurturing the cultural and ecological tapestry that defines who we are and what we value. Without a collective effort to protect these treasures, we risk losing the profound essence of what makes us human.

Sparks with a trophy wild rainbow from Jurassic Lake.

Photo credits: Ryan Sparks

The TRCP is your resource for all things conservation. In our weekly Roosevelt Report, you’ll receive the latest news on emerging habitat threats, legislation and proposals on the move, public land access solutions we’re spearheading, and opportunities for hunters and anglers to take action. Sign up now.

by: Noah Davis

posted in: In the Arena

October 9, 2024

In the Arena: Alex Harvey

TRCP’s “In the Arena” series highlights the individual voices of hunters and anglers who, as Theodore Roosevelt so famously said, strive valiantly in the worthy cause of conservation.

Alex Harvey

Hometown: Terry, Mississippi

Occupation: Consulting Forester/Wildlife Biologist

Conservation credentials: Alex Harvey, founder of Legacy Land Management, is a registered professional forester in Mississippi and Alabama with a degree in forestry from Mississippi State University, as well as a land management consultant, hunter, and angler.

Harvey is carrying on the outdoor traditions passed on to him from generations of his family, ranging from herbalism and foraging to rabbit, duck, and deer hunting, and cattle ranching. Alex also helps private landowners, many of them Black, make the most of their properties for wildlife, timber, and ecological resilience.

Here is his story.

Hunting has always been a family and community pastime. It was passed down to me from my dad, his dad, etc. I’m from a very large extended family and community that hunts and has hunted for generations. I have family heirlooms that are evidence that I’m at least a fifth-generation outdoorsman. In my family, it is customary that guns are passed down after someone passes. I was lucky enough to become the successor of most of the family’s shotguns, a rifle, and some special handguns. There’s a story that I tell on the NWF podcast about my grandmother being handed a .32 caliber pistol by my great-grandmother (her new mother-in-law) and told to go chase down a rabbit and shoot it for dinner. 

I had the opportunity to hunt with Randy Newberg of Leupold’s Hunt Talk Radio/Fresh Tracks and Hal Herring of the Backcountry Hunters and Anglers Podcast & Blast in January 2023. They both came down to Mississippi, and I was able to introduce them to members of the hunting club where my dad hunted in the Mississippi Hill Country and the Delta.

My dad became a member of all African American hunting club there in the early eighties. My brother and I grew up hunting there along with other families. I was able to introduce Randy and Hal to a couple of legends in their own right. That was indeed very special.

Harvey on the job in the Mississippi Delta.

Hunting has always been about connection for me. Hunting with loved ones, dear friends. In many ways, I prefer to hunt the lands where I grew up because it helps me feel connected to friends and family that have passed on. So, the Mississippi Hill Country and the Delta, quail hunting in south Mississippi and Alabama, and Louisiana duck hunting are all places I always want to hunt. I’m also open to make new connections and find new favorite places.

“The issue of conservation intersects with economics, thus those communities that have less are sometimes challenged by things that many might not recognize as a barrier. But my work is centered around how to address those challenges and find ways to simply put conservation into practice.”

I chose a career in conservation because I grew up in the outdoors. At the same time, it has helped me to become a better outdoorsman. As a forester, I write silvicultural prescriptions that determine the composition/structure and quality of forests to meet the various needs that society has. By going to Forestry School, I became educated about the life history of a forest based on local and regional factors. This has helped me to better understand what healthy wildlife habitat and healthy wildlife populations look like.

Forest health is a persistent challenge. Having healthy, vigorous, diverse forests that are home to healthy wildlife populations remains a challenge. As it pertains to the landowner clients that I represent, which are largely minority’s or what the US Department of Agriculture identifies as underserved and socially disadvantaged landowners, issues such as lack of clear title/heirs to property create a very difficult hurdle for enrolling in important landowner assistance programs that can help families establish forests and begin the process of creating long-term wealth investments. The issue of conservation intersects with economics, thus those communities that have less are sometimes challenged by things that many might not recognize as a barrier. But my work is centered around how to address those challenges and find ways to simply put conservation into practice.

The aim of conservation is literally to have a healthy and productive planet for current and future generations to live on and benefit from. From the wood fiber that we need to build our homes, to the pastimes that we enjoy in the outdoors, to the food we eat, and the air we breathe, all of these things are vital for our needs as a society. The extra added reality that communities that practice conservation tend to be more stable economically builds an extra level of importance where it pertains to issues of equity and social justice.

Photo credits: Alex Harvey

Learn more about TRCP’s work in the Mississippi River Delta below.

by: Ryan Lockwood

posted in: In the Arena

September 19, 2024

In The Arena: Dr. Bryan Watts

TRCP’s “In the Arena” series highlights the individual voices of hunters and anglers who, as Theodore Roosevelt so famously said, strive valiantly in the worthy cause of conservation.

Bryan Watts

Hometown: Williamsburg, Virginia
Occupation: Professor and director of the Center for Conservation Biology, College of William & Mary
Conservation credentials: Dr. Watts leads multi-year research efforts on many avian species, including a project tracking long-term osprey nesting success in the Chesapeake Bay. He also founded his college’s Center for Conservation Biology and has designed and conducted more than 1,000 research projects related to birds found throughout the Western Hemisphere and particularly in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Dr. Bryan Watts studies a wide range of avian issues, from waterbirds on barrier island beaches and bald eagles in the Chesapeake Bay to the effects of human-caused stressors on bird species in coastal regions. His ongoing research of osprey reproductive success in the Chesapeake recently has gotten a lot of attention. In 2023 and 2024 his data have shown a significant decline in nesting success for ospreys located in saltwater areas, which he attributes to a lack of menhaden – a critically important forage fish – for food. This apparent lack of menhaden (also known as bunker or pogies), which TRCP and partners have sounded the alarm on for years due to similar negative effects on striped bass and other sportfish that rely on them, has been difficult to demonstrate with hard data due to Virginia’s continued unwillingness to fund a study on local menhaden populations in the Bay. Watts is a Mitchell A. Byrd Research Professor of Conservation Biology with a PhD in ecology from the University of Georgia and 40-plus years of research experience. But long before he ever became an ecological scientist, he was just a kid out in the woods, hunting, fishing, and exploring with the Boy Scouts.

Here is his story.

Watts rappelling down from an eagle nest. Credit: Libby Mojica

I was in the woods with my family before I could walk. When I was five, I started to attend Boy Scouts (my father was Scoutmaster). I was introduced to hunting and fishing by other scouts and Scoutmasters. By the time I was 12, I was spending most of my time in the woods hunting, fishing, trapping, digging ginseng, picking berries, and birding. I was fortunate to spend all of my formative years in the woods surrounded by the natural world. Those times would shape my life’s path.

I have had hundreds of great times in the field in multiple countries, but one that stands out is a float trip on the Greenbrier River in West Virginia. I was 14 and spent two days, along with six other boys and Edsel Whaling, a U.S. Marine Veteran and prominent Scout leader, out on the river. We floated about 30 miles, fishing for smallmouth bass. We slept under an overhang along the river. We cooked bass over a fire and used the heads to catch crayfish in the shallows and cooked them also, in a tin can over the fire. That experience has been hard to beat.

“The smell and sounds of the woods and the feel of the air make me feel like I am home.

If I could hunt or fish anywhere, I would be back along the rivers and high streams of West Virginia, fishing for smallmouth bass or brook trout. There is a familiarity there that makes me feel like I belong. The smell and sounds of the woods and the feel of the air make me feel like I am home.

Watts holding an adult osprey as part of his research in the Chesapeake Bay. Credit: Libby Mojica

I have been a professional conservation biologist for 40 years. I have worked on hundreds of conservation projects addressing many species and many problems. One recent project has investigated the causes of poor breeding performance in Chesapeake Bay osprey. My Center has worked with osprey since 1970. Over the past 20 years, we have become increasingly concerned about the role of menhaden availability in osprey nesting success in the main stem of the Bay. Like many conservation problems, we need to seek a balance between the needs of industry and the ecosystem. I am confident that we can find such a balance.

Healthy osprey chicks in a nest in Chesapeake Bay. Credit: Bryan Watts

I am most proud of the fact that as a community of American outdoorsmen and women, we care about what happens to different species. I have never met a true outdoorsman who did not genuinely care about the welfare of a species. Just knowing that we as a community and society are working toward the welfare of other species really enhances the experience of being outdoors.

The largest conservation challenge that we face in the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain is habitat loss. Continued expansion of the urban footprint comes at the expense of natural habitats that many of our most vulnerable species depend on. We are fortunate to have large tracts of unspoiled land owned by government agencies, NGOs, and private individuals. We need to work toward expanding the green infrastructure to protect habitat for future generations. The hunting and fishing community has been one of the strongest supporters of this effort.

Watts with a second-year bald eagle. Credit: Bart Paxton

We have a responsibility to pass on the natural environment that we have enjoyed to future generations. Conservation is an all-hands-on-deck activity. If we do not all work together to restore and protect the species we have now, and the habitats they depend on, we will not have them tomorrow.

A female osprey clutching a menhaden. Credit: Bryan Watts

Everyone who enjoys hunting and fishing and being outdoors understands that we cannot take the natural world for granted. Places and species are treasures to be safeguarded across generations. There is a peace of mind that comes with the knowledge that we have done what we can do to pass these places along.